I think it's best to never be too stubborn about health tips and accept other people view. We don't have any real answers to what is healthy and what is not, so if a diet works for somebody accept it and don't preach what they are doing wrong and what they should do instead.

Senior wrote:

Grade A+ rubbish. It's impossible for a human to survive without meat.

Please tell that to the hundreds of millions of vegetarians around the world.

I think it's due to the drinking why people gain weight. That and drinking the pop which is probably full of sugar.

I eat brown rice, black barley, acorn or buckwheat noodles, loads of veggies and tofu, nuts, and the occasional bit of seafood.

Kimchi is eaten, but in moderation, due to the salt content.

I go to the health club, but the ellipticals are crap so I don't do the amount of cardio that I used to, but I still walk everywhere, as I did at home. I do pilates 3 times a week. I don't drink.

I've gained 7 kilo this year, which is nuts.

I can't wait to go home for home leave and load up on the natural supplements that I thought would be available here. Greens powder, green tea extract (you can add it to your fresh-squeezed OJ and there's little to no taste, with all the benefits), brazil nuts, edible goji berries, and such. Don't forget the vegetable rennet tablets so that I can make cottage cheese instead of paneer.

And fiber-laden whole-wheat pasta!

Having to subsist on mainly carbs has done this. I never ate as much rice or noodles (I hardly ate noodles!) when I was home, because I had variety.

I've started losing a little, having switched to rice and beans more often, with a high beans to rice ratio. It's tough though.

You are getting fat because you have a rubbish diet. Eat meat and vegetables. Humans didn't eat goji berries and pasta for 99.9% of their evolution, what makes you think they would be good things now?

We evolved eating meat, when tha wasn't available, we ate vegetables. Most of the crap you are rabbiting on about didn't even exist until very recently. How could that be healthy?

Berries were probably one of the earliest foods that humans ate... I ate the same amount of grains when I lived back home, but I had more choices (quinoa, etc). I was a size 0 (mind you I'm only 5 feet tall, so not anorexic thin) and very fit (I worked out with weights, rode my bike, and did Brazilian Jiu Jitsu). Now I'm a size 3/4 and very annoyed.

Sure, early humans ate berries, but it's impossible to subsist on them.

Your young body could handle a crappy diet. It's starting to catch up on you.

Exercise is important but not essential, and it can't compensate for a rubbish diet.

Quote:

Meat isn't necessary. We evolved to be able to eat meat, but we can survive very well without it. I never had a weight problem before when eating a grain and veggie diet, but the variety is lacking here.

Grade A+ rubbish. It's impossible for a human to survive without meat.

Quote:

As for pasta, I prefer grains, but eat pasta in soups. Pasta is my treat. Not every day, and never the fried crap. I had it at home, but it was never a problem before. I did have the high-fiber stuff though, so will be bringing a lot back with me.

There isn't too much evidence that fibre is important. It is a canard extension of the lipid hypothesis.

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My diet would be one of the healthiest possible if but for a number of items unavailable here. Live and learn. This time my luggage will be packed with non-perishables instead of clothes and household stuff.

You really think a few unavailable items wrecked your diet? It's even sadder you think nonperishable items will cure your ills. Fresh meat and vegetables are the human diet.

Quote:

Meat's fine if you like it. I just don't. I never had a weight problem before Korea is all I'm saying.

You hadn't sufficiently ruined your metabolism yet. It's not too late, but you have to inform yourself about what humans are really "designed" to eat.

Plus, a book called Good Calories, Bad Calories.http://www.amazon.com/dp/1400040787 I can't seem to get my public link to work. But, if you want a thorough debunking of the lipid hypothesis, backed up with some "science", pm me and I will email you the PDF.

Size zero or 1 is a weight problem? Seriously? Also it is possible to not eat meat contradictory to what was said, but my heavens is it delicious. I find it fascinating that the country that is the most obsessed with fat free, gluten free, soy bean, non half, organic, sugar free nonsense also has the highest obesity rate. Vitamins are for suckers. Nutrients deprived from foods are infinitely more soluble and retained by the body. All it takes is some common sense. Take it from an ever decreasing fatty.

When I was home I never had to take a vitamin. All of my nutrients came from food.

Per what Senior said: It isn't a few foods. It's dozens--at least. NYC has everything foodwise, and My diet here has been narrowed down to a mere handful of acceptable things.

We don't need meat. We can get by just fine without it, if we vary our protein sources.

I didn't live on only berries, but they were a part of my wide and varied diet, which is near impossible to maintain here. This is why I eat a little seafood here. The moment I'm in the US or UK I'm back to being a pure vegetarian.

I do have eggs and dairy. I never said I was a vegan. Those are very good sources of protein. I just prefer not to eat meat. Trust me: I know what's necessary for a healthy diet. It's the lack of availability here.

I used to work a wellness center while in university. The owner is a personal trainer to Victoria Secret supermodels, CEOs, and A-list celebrities. He wasn't some juice head, but a former lawyer who changed careers to do what he loved. I wasn't into the supplements, as I ate my vitamins and minerals, but the diet and workout knowledge I gained were priceless.

Rice, pork, fried food. Never ate any of those before Korea, worked out 6 days a week, was real lean. Now I am forced to eat that stuff at lunch, still work out 6 days a week, still cook eggs and chicken breasts at home, still refuse fast food and sweets (no rice cake even), gained 25 pounds in 7 months.

I'm no longer vegetarian, so my diet is more varied now. I've become a regular shopper on iherb, ezshopkorea, and nicemarket so can get a variety of foods including high-fiber cereals and flours. Life is easier now. I've also become a damned find cook. I should still probably lose 5-7 pounds, but I'm married and he likes it, so meh.

Rice, pork, fried food. Never ate any of those before Korea, worked out 6 days a week, was real lean. Now I am forced to eat that stuff at lunch, still work out 6 days a week, still cook eggs and chicken breasts at home, still refuse fast food and sweets (no rice cake even), gained 25 pounds in 7 months.

It sounds like you were coming from a position of mega-healthiness. Which is cool. It's all relative. If you never touched pork and your life and never touched fried food in your life, and then all of a sudden you're exposed to daeji kalbi and street food then yeah, you're gonna bulk up. But there are plenty of other options.

I've talked with a few different vegetarians in my life about their diet, and most of them weren't eating very healthy. I've had a number of conversations that have gone something like this:

Veggie: I don't eat meat, only healthy healthy veggies and plants!

Me: Oh. How are you supplementing for the things you can't get from vegetables?

Veggie: Like what? Vegetables have everything!

Me: What about B12? It isn't found in anything but red meat.

Veggie: Oh. Well my blood pressure and cholestoral are ok, so it must not be that important!

Me: B12 deficiency is thought to be a large factor in dementia and alzheimers. When you drink alcohol, your body uses up a lot of B12. It's currently thought that this is why rates of dementia type diseases are much higher among life-time heavy drinkers. But regardless, you need to be getting B12 from somewhere.

Veggie: Veggies are healthy!

________________________________________

This isn't intended to knock anyone in this thread, but if you're eating vegetarian, make sure you're supplementing properly.

Hah, my bad, I typed that rather quickly before class and didn't check it for clarity.

The point about alcohol was merely anecdotal supporting evidence, on top of research that's been done on the topic.

But yeah, my post was a little OT, so here's an on topic post!

________________________________

I lost weight when I initially came to Korea, and in my second and third years put some of it back on. These days I'm losing it again. As was said above, it's more about how good or bad your eating habits are that will determine whether your waistline is expanding or not.

I've talked with a few different vegetarians in my life about their diet, and most of them weren't eating very healthy. I've had a number of conversations that have gone something like this:

Veggie: I don't eat meat, only healthy healthy veggies and plants!

Me: Oh. How are you supplementing for the things you can't get from vegetables?

Veggie: Like what? Vegetables have everything!

Me: What about B12? It isn't found in anything but red meat.

Veggie: Oh. Well my blood pressure and cholestoral are ok, so it must not be that important!

Me: B12 deficiency is thought to be a large factor in dementia and alzheimers. When you drink alcohol, your body uses up a lot of B12. It's currently thought that this is why rates of dementia type diseases are much higher among life-time heavy drinkers. But regardless, you need to be getting B12 from somewhere.

Veggie: Veggies are healthy!

________________________________________

This isn't intended to knock anyone in this thread, but if you're eating vegetarian, make sure you're supplementing properly.

Loads of meat eaters are also deficient in B12 too and everyone over a certain age is advised to B12 supplement to be safe..It's an issue for vegetarians because B12 is made by microbes in the soil (its not from meat)and we have it scrubbed off our veges in our highly cleansed food production. also most serious athletes get B12 injections. Eating meat won't guarantee good levels.

Vast majority of vegetarians eat a highly processed just meat free version of the typical Western diet. So health comparisons are largely meaningless. Read Mcdougall on "the fat vegan".

Traditional Korean diet is very light on meat - look at what the current Korean centinarians eat.. It's not pork every meal.

But that's not what we're given for school lunches and school dinner gatherings. In the U.S. I make a choice of what I eat which is why it was easier to eat healthy.

I mostly just bumped this as a warning to anybody who was like me. I'll figure things out when I get home but for now I can't believe I bought into the "Koreans eat healthy" myth before I came when most of them clearly don't. I mean, all of em I see eat tons of Ramyan, pork, fried food, cakes, potato chips, etc. and stay super tiny while I only eat that stuff when I'm forced to for school and I bulked up pretty quickly doing the same workout routine I did to keep me lean at home.

Not sure what this has to do with the price of hookers in Pattaya. I've never met a single Korean who actually eats like this. It may be "traditional" but it isn't practiced, unless you're hanging with Monks in Gangwongdo.

Something a little more practical. The life saving, "well being" food Bibimbap -- praised by Koreans and English Teachers alike for its pure, life extending properties.

More calories, A LOT more sodium, more carbs, more sugars and 3x the cholesterol.
Granted the Big Mac has more sat. fats -- but we're talking a McDonalds Big Mac here for f sake.

Most would be floored when examining any popular Korean dish and seeing just how unhealthy they all are. Korean food is laden with sodium, simple carbs and a shite ton of additives, sugars and processed oils.

I've talked with a few different vegetarians in my life about their diet, and most of them weren't eating very healthy. I've had a number of conversations that have gone something like this:

Veggie: I don't eat meat, only healthy healthy veggies and plants!

Me: Oh. How are you supplementing for the things you can't get from vegetables?

Veggie: Like what? Vegetables have everything!

Me: What about B12? It isn't found in anything but red meat.

Veggie: Oh. Well my blood pressure and cholestoral are ok, so it must not be that important!

Me: B12 deficiency is thought to be a large factor in dementia and alzheimers. When you drink alcohol, your body uses up a lot of B12. It's currently thought that this is why rates of dementia type diseases are much higher among life-time heavy drinkers. But regardless, you need to be getting B12 from somewhere.

Veggie: Veggies are healthy!

________________________________________

This isn't intended to knock anyone in this thread, but if you're eating vegetarian, make sure you're supplementing properly.